Today, the U.S. Supreme court struck down DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, the law which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages which were legalized by some of our states. In United States v. Windsor, in a 5-4 decision, the court found DOMA to be unconstitutional.

President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law in 1996. It prevented same-sex couples whose marriages were legalized by their state from receiving federal law benefits.

“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. “By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”

Hart Immigration is now servicing the immigration needs of same sex couples.